Will your infection prevention practices pass inspection with accreditors and state health departments? Keep your facility in compliance by downloading this free checklist...
Our blood glucose logs include key reminders for our staff. • Check expiration dates. Each day we test a patient, we must test the blood sugar monitor to ensure the strips and solutions have not expired. A box of test strips
How can you expect your recovery room nurses to be on the lookout for pressure injuries when they don’t know what position the patient was in during surgery? A simple...
It's frustrating, not to mention a waste of valuable time, when central sterile returns incomplete or incorrect instrument sets to the OR. We snapped overhead cellphone pictures...
Of the many ways to reuse blue sterilization wrap, here's one you might not have considered: sew a couple sheets together to make a sleeping mat for homeless people...
Rather than handing patients a single-use plastic bag to store their belongings, we now give them a reusable blue plastic storage bucket. We have plenty of the 2-feet wide by 4-inches high buckets,...
It's no great secret that injecting a small amount of 1% lidocaine under the skin just before the venipuncture will make IV starts a painless breeze for both patients and nurses,...
To help reduce injuries, we decided that our nurses didn't have to do all the heavy lifting. We instituted a safe patient handling and movement program that uses...
I didn't think much about the slip-resistant socks we used to throw away after patients were done with them — until, that is, I underwent surgery myself at our hospital. It struck me...
In an effort to reduce the infection rate among our colon resection patients, we took some advice from our GYN/ONCO surgeons on closing protocol. They had started the practice of changing gowns,...
Ideas That Work: Staff Satisfaction; Organized OR Turnovers? Check!
Ideas That Work: First-Name Basis; Embroidered Scrub Caps Make Close-Knit Teams
Ideas That Work: Skin Care; Adhesive Removal: Go Low and Slow
Ideas That Work: Puppet Show; Toby the Puppy Greets Pediatric Patients
Ideas That Work: Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep; Can Your Staff Use A Fire Extinguisher?
Ideas That Work: Perpetual Inventory; Bin Rotation System Keeps Supplies Constantly Replenished
Ideas That Work: Fun Ride to the OR; Climb Aboard the Worm Wagon
Ideas That Work: Pathology; Standardize Your Specimen Management Carts
Ideas That Work: Patient Satisfaction; Itinerary Details the Trip From Pre-op to PACU
Ideas That Work: Anxiety Scale; Are Your Patients Feelingor?